Child's Play
by RaeynnBeau
Summary: Second part of the trilogy, sequel to Flowerless Darkness. Still healing from the last case, Tsuzuki and Hisoka are heading out to investigate the untimely deaths of an entire elementary school class. But, when strange accidents related to games keep occurring in the town, will they be able to figure out what's going on? Rating subject to change as needed; eventual Tsuzki/Hisoka.


**A/N****: **Hi all; just so you know, this is the second part in a trilogy I am writing. You may want to go back and read the first part before this if you haven't already, or you probably won't understand everything that's going on. It's on my page, titled Flowerless Darkness. Also I apologize for all of the footnotes for this chapter o.o I just kept adding them and adding them for some reason ...

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Title, "Ano ko ja wakaran" means "I don't know which child"; it is a line from the Japanese children's game Hana Ichi Monme.

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**Ano ko ja Wakaran**

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Tsuzuki rubbed his eyes tiredly as he walked up the stairs to the office; he was on the mild side of exhausted, mostly because he hadn't been sleeping well recently. It had been almost a month since he had successfully exorcised the demon that was possessing Hisoka, and life had continued to go by at a reasonably normal clip. He and his partner had gone back to work, the department had been quiet, and neither Tatsumi nor Watari had asked any more questions or to delved any further into the ramifications of Hisoka being re-cursed at all ... Most likely they though it wasn't possible that it had happened, since they didn't know Muraki was alive and kicking, or that Tsuzuki had had fucking _tea_ with the white demon the morning of the exorcism ...

And therein laid the reason that the brunet shinigami hadn't been getting much sleep.

Every time he saw his partner staring blankly at something, or was around Tatsumi, or heard an explosion from Watari's lab, or there was any other indication that one of those three was around, he felt this overwhelming surge of _guilt_. Guilt that he'd lied, guilt that he still hadn't told anyone all of the truth, guilt that his partner had been possessed at all in the first place ... Just so much guilt it felt like it was going to swallow him whole. And it only became when he noticed his partner looking at him. He knew Hisoka's empathy was much stronger than it had been before he was possessed; what he had done for Tsuzuki's leg in the infirmary when he had first woken up proved that much. But he didn't know how much stronger, and he didn't know what that meant. Was it a product of the curse? Or was it because the demon had been using his abilities while possessing Hisoka? Tsuzuki remembered it mentioning something about teaching Hisoka to use his powers more before possessing him, so maybe it was that ..?

There were just far too many possibilities; it made the brunet's head hurt just thinking about it. And think about it he had; almost non-stop for a month behind carefully guarded mental walls. Which only served to make him feel worse. It used to be that he never tried to cut himself off from his partner, unless he knew he was feeling something very strongly or Hisoka himself scolded him. The blond himself had said on more than one occasion that he couldn't feel anyone else; stupid-Tsuzuki was loud enough to drown everyone else out. He felt like he was almost constantly lying to the green eyed boy now, hiding what he was doing or thinking or feeling ...

"Ohayou, Tsuzuki-san!" Jumping slightly, he turned around to see the bundle of energy that was Wakaba coming down the hall towards him and waving. Plastering a passable rendition of a smile on his face, the brunet stopped walking and waved back, waiting for her to catch up to him.

"Ohayou, Wakaba-chan. Genki, ne?" (1) She smiled so that her eyes were almost closed by the time she got to him, and she nearly jumped to a stop in front of him; something had her in a particularly good mood, so much so that it was a little infectious even though previously Tsuzuki had been a little down. This was short-lived though, as before she could even get a word in edgewise to explain her excitement, they both heard urgent footsteps, and the door to the main office where their cubicles sat opened.

"Tsuzuki - come. Now. You have an assignment." That was Tatsumi, and that was his 'no-nonsense' tone of voice. Frowning, Tsuzuki nodded and went to follow, apologizing and telling Wakaba that they would have to talk later. He didn't like that look on his former partner's face; something was wrong, and it must have been pretty urgent for him to come searching for the brunet even though it was a good ten minutes before he was supposed to be at his desk ...

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><p>Hisoka was sitting in the briefing room already, as was Konoe-kachou, both Gushoushin brothers in front of a laptop, and Watari. There was a somber expression on the Chief's face, which was unlike his normal, reasonably jovial mood. Tatsumi closed the door behind Tsuzuki, and the brunet couldn't help but immediately ask,<p>

"What's going on?" A file was pushed across the table to him, and he sat down in one of the vacant chairs nearest to the door to look at it. Before he even opened it, there was frown settling on his face; it was very thick. Which meant that there were either a lot of people involved, or it was a _very_ strange circumstance. Maybe even both.

"There was an incident in Nagasaki; specifically Higashisonogi-chō," Chief Konoe will explain as he pushed something else towards Tsuzuki. Glancing down at whatever it was and realizing it was a newspaper, Tsuzuki picked it up and looked at the headline, which proclaimed Tragedy in Higashisonogi-cho; 18 Dead. The brunet stared at the headline; normally, large accidents like this were recorded, scheduled, and expected - they weren't surprises to the Ju-Ou-Chou. (2) So, if this was a case, then it meant that the situation _was_ a surprise ...

"Eighteen dead ...?" the question was answered by a nod from Tatsumi, who turned on the projector. Waiting for an explanation, rather than trying to read the newspaper article in the darkened room proved prudent, as it was only a few seconds before he received an answer.

"Seventeen children from an elementary school," one of the Gushoshin brothers said; the other was furiously typing on the laptop, "and none of them were supposed to die. All in the same class, and around the same age - between four and five. The eighteenth was their teacher." Violet eyes widened; an entire elementary school class? Looking down at the article, his eyes snapped back up to the wall when he heard a slide change in the projector. The image was of a small town, hugging the coast of Oumura Bay - the brunet knew where it was; it was in his jurisdiction after all. Another slide showed an elementary school.

Glancing at his partner briefly, Hisoka looked netural, as he tended to these days. Ever since he had been possessed, it was like ...

It was like he didn't _feel_ anything.

At all.

Ever.

It was almost completely different from how the boy used to be; previously his MO was, of course, to be moody, grouchy, frustrated, or even angry. Usually one of those words covered the emotion he was projecting, to at least some degree. He used to at least _emote_, even if he forced it to be a small part of the negative spectrum more often than not. But now ... There was nothing. It wasn't boredom; it was apathy. As the slide changed to show a train wreck, he saw that it was no different. There wasn't a spark of any sort of emotion or reaction behind those green eyes as he looked at the image on the wall, which changed to a shot of several body bags that clearly had bodies in them that were much too small for them ...

Tsuzuki's face for it's part didn't change past a neutral expression, but he did at least wince a little. "So, there was a train crash?" he asked quietly, looking at the tidied up scene of the carnage. "Were they going on a school trip or something?" The image was a little dark, wasn't zoomed in, and wasn't particularly clear, so the logical conclusion to draw for them all being together on a train was that they were traveling somewhere together as a class.

"No ... It actually happened in the evening, several hours after school had been dismissed." Confused violet eyes glanced at the Chief, who was the one that had spoken. He wasn't looking at anyone, instead staring steadily at the table in front of himself. "There were a few witnesses; they said the children and the teacher all left their houses, as if they had planned the meeting ahead of time, and went to the train tracks that cross the main street standing nine on one side, and nine on the other." Tsuzuki frowned. That was very strange ...

"They stood there for a while according to witnesses, until a cargo train came along the tracks." It was the orange haired Shinigami's turn to speak up, and the brunet's eyes widened more as he looked down at the newspaper article, and the papers in the file in front of him, before turning back to Watari in disbelief. No; there was no way.

"They ... _jumped_ in front of the train?" He felt sick when he saw Watari nod; he wasn't looking at Tsuzuki either, or anyone else for that matter. True, they dealt with death all the time, but the deaths of children, and so many of them at once, always made a case difficult to deal with. He was shocked into silence; even if say the school teacher had gone crazy and convinced the children to come out of their houses and line up on the train tracks, there was no way they would have been coerced into jumping out in front of a speeding train. The brunet covered his mouth, but before he could say anything else, someone else was speaking.

"There was another strange thing; what was it." It wasn't a question so much as it was a statement; a dead statement with none of the normal connotations that could conceivably come along with those words. Tsuzuki glanced at his partner in a bit of surprise; not only was Hisoka even more quiet than he used to be before Unzen these days, but when he did speak ... He addressed things that honesty he probably shouldn't have known about. The trench coat sporting Shinigami wasn't sure if it was because of his empathy, or what the demon had done to him while possessing him or _what_ precisely but ... No matter how he tried to ignore it, he had to admit that it was a little unnerving, even if he was sure Hisoka wasn't doing it on purpose or anything.

No one commented on the statement directly, though he did get a slightly weird look from most of the occupants of the room. But then, if he noticed this at all he didn't react. The blond sat in his chair silently, waiting for an answer. Or maybe he wasn't waiting. It was really impossible to tell.

"One of the three witnesses ran forward to try and stop them before they jumped. He didn't get there in time, but he insists that while they were standing there, he saw them go back and forth a few steps, and just before he realized they were going to jump, he claims he heard them say, Ano ko ga hoshii, _Ano ko ja wakaran_, Soudan shiyou, _sou shiyou_. Then they all lept onto the train tracks at the same time." (3) The shocked look still hadn't left Tsuzuki's face. _What_? What sort of sick, twisted game of Hana Ichi Monme were they playing ...?

"What ... would have made them _do_ that ...?" the words were quiet as Tsuzuki only managed to ask at least that much. Konoe-Kachou shook his head solemnly.

"That is what you two are going to find out. None of those children or the teacher were slotted to die for some time; we have no idea what happened." The brunet shinigami nodded, closing the file in front of him and picking it up. Better to get started sooner rather than later; the longer they stayed where they were, the colder the trail was going to get; according to the newspaper, this was today's headline, so it must have happened the night before. Which meant there still might be valuable clues in the area if they hurried to Higashisonogi-Cho.

"And don't forget Tsuzuki; only 3,000 yen per day on meals," (4) Leave it to Tatsumi to remind him of that, as he did for any assignment where it was likely the brunet would be spending money out of the department's account. The brunet's head went down as if he had been struck.

"But on that budget it's so difficult to get dessert!" he protested, as he normally did; his heard wasn't really in it, but it was expected of him, so he had to play the part as if he were really upset about the thin budget they were always given. And, since the exchange was normal, Tatsumi was ready with an answer almost immediately.

"So go on a diet. Problem solved." There was a pause before the brunet's mouth literally dropped open and violet eyes nearly as wide as saucers stared at his former partner. A normal, theatrical performance as his eyes teared up.

"Tatsumi~~~~! Are you saying I'm FAT!?" The whine ended in a loud exclamation as Tsuzuki's ears and tail drooped immediately at the allegation he posed, though Tatsumi remained valiantly un-flustered with a dismissive shrug. As was to be expected; he never seemed bothered by Tsuzuki's outbursts. (5)

"I said nothing of the sort. It isn't my fault if that's what you want to infer." With that, he proceeded to unplug the projector and wind the cord up - he had started the practice, because apparently even if electronics weren't turned on, if they were attached to an electrical outlet then they still used some minute amount of electricity.

"Hidoooooiii!" (6) Tsuzuki whined, setting his head on the table and putting his paws on top of his ears, crying over-dramatically. Watari just laughed at his antics, and he felt another small stab of guilt, though he did an exceptional job pushing that down quickly. Slowly standing up with what might've been an expression classifiable as a pout on his face, he pushed his chair in and got ready to leave. This case wasn't going to solve itself, after all. The lights went on, and the Gushoshin brothers as well as Watari, Tatsumi, and Chief Konoe also made ready to leave the room.

Hisoka also stood, backing away from the table and pushing his chair in before walking over to the Chief and holding out a thin, pale hand. Konoe-Kachou gave him a confused look, and the green eyed sixteen year old said, "green tea." At his continued confusion, Hisoka repeated, "green tea. From the Okada Tea Company in Higashisonogi. You want some." There was no question in his voice; now true, the Chief almost always requested souvenirs when the shinigami went out in the field on assignments, and he almost always gave money for them in advance.

"Uh ... well yes, actually I _was _going to ask you to bring back some tea for me ... but with all of Tsuzuki's antics I forgot ... " he seemed only slightly stunned as he pulled an envelope from his pocket that he had already prepared in advance. The look on his face clearly read 'how did you know?' but Hisoka didn't say anything. He just took the envelope from the Chief and nodded, bowing his head slightly to him before leaving the room. Tsuzuki, Watari, Tatsumi, Kanoe, and even the Gushoshin all turned their heads and watched as he left the room, but no one commented. No one really knew what to say ...

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**Tsu zu ku …**

**(To be Continued …)**

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Footnotes:

1 - This exchange is both of them saying "good morning" to each other, and Tsuzuki saying "genki ne" is basically him asking "you're energetic, huh?"

2 - The overarching title of the Meifu branch Tsuzuki and the other Shinigami work in. The specific department is En-Ma-Chou, but Ju-Ou-Chou is a more general category; in the English version as far as I can tell it's all the "Ministry of Hades."

3 - This is the end of the rhyme said when playing Hana Ichi Monme or the Flower is One Monme; basically the Japanese version of Red Rover elementary children play. Two teams stand in lines holding hands and facing each other. They say a rhyme back and forth that roughly translated is "We won so we're happy the Flower is one Monme, _We lost so we're sad the Flower is one Monme_. I want that child. _I don't know which child_. Well, let's talk about it. _ Let's do it_." Then, the teams each call out "(name)-chan ga hoshii", which basically is "I want (name)!" Those two children, one from each team, run forward into the middle and do paper-rock-scissors to decide the winner. The loser goes over to the winning team.

4 - 3,000 yen is about $25. Per DAY on food. I dunno about anyone else, but there are times I spend $25 on ONE meal when eating out (much like Tsuzuki does in the first episode of the anime...) and I'm assuming that most of the time Tsuzuki and Hisoka eat out, rather than cook themselves meals, since most hotels don't have full kitchens. And you know whatever place Tatsumi books for them, it isn't going to have all of the bells and whistles ... Stingy Secretary ...

5 - which is ironic since that's the reason he quit being Tsuzuki's partner in the first place ...

6 - Tsuzuki once again whining out a "how meaaaannnnnnn" ...


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